Jewish Identity: Are You In or Out?

Passover and the redemptive value of Jewish identity.

Our Sages assert that the Israelites in Egypt were on the lowest level of spiritual impurity. They worshipped idols. They were debauched and dissolute. So how did they merit the grand and miraculous redemption?

They had only three things going for them: They kept their Hebrew names, their Hebrew language, and their distinctive Hebrew dress. In other words, they retained their Jewish identity.

Wait a second! Didn’t you cringe when you found out that the biggest Ponzi scheme in history had been perpetuated by someone with a distinctly Jewish name? Wouldn’t we have preferred that instead of retaining his Jewish identity he had changed his name to Christopher Johnson?

What is the redemptive value of Jewish identity?

The question assumes particular importance in our generation. Indeed, the rates of adultery, domestic violence, addiction to drugs and porn, and murder for reasons as trifling as being cut off in traffic have skyrocketed in this generation. An objective look at our moral standing would produce a grim assessment.

Judaism promulgates a teleological worldview – that history is moving toward a specific goal, namely, the Redemption, or the Messianic era. So how can a generation as dissolute as ours be redeemed?

The Power of Community

Maimonides, in his code of Jewish Law, makes a startling pronouncement. He writes that a Jew who lives in isolation from the Jewish community, even if he keeps all the commandments, is considered a kofer b’ikar, a heretic. The implication is that identifying with the Jewish community is a basic value that underlies all the commandments.

The challenge to identify as a Jew or not became a viable choice in the 19th century, as the ghetto walls came down. During the 19th and early 20th century, huge numbers of Jews defected. Over the course of the nineteenth century, the majority of Warsaw’s most affluent Jews converted to Christianity. In the Austro-Hungarian Empire between 1867 and 1918, about 20,000 Jews converted to Christianity to rid themselves of the social stigma of being Jewish. (Gustav Mahler is the most famous example; he converted to Roman Catholicism in 1897 in order to snag the post of Conductor of the Viennese Opera.)

Many Jewish immigrants en route to America from Eastern Europe threw their tefillin into the New York harbor because they wanted to eschew their Jewish identity and become “Americans.” In contrast to the ancient Hebrews in Egypt, who retained their Hebrew names and language, many Jewish immigrants changed their names. The film Hester Street about life on the lower East Side has a scene in a class for ballroom dancing. The sign on the wall proclaims: NO YIDDISH SPOKEN HERE.

In our generation, many Jews have renounced their Jewish identity in favor of becoming “citizens of the world.” Their political views have led them to identify with the enemies of the Jewish People.

Since 1948, the benchmark of Jewish identification in America has been, more than synagogue affiliation, support of the Jewish State. Rabbi Nachman Kahane remembers that when he was a teenager in New York in 1948, he helped raise funds to buy arms for the Jewish fighters in what was soon to be the State of Israel. Their truck would stop at a street corner, they would jump out, and two of them would hold an Israeli flag horizontally. Passers-by would reach into their pockets, and without even looking, throw everything they had into the flag. This enthusiastic support of Israel was unwavering in the American Jewish community until the last decade.

That’s why alarm bells rang a couple years ago when a study revealed that 50% of American Jews under the age of 35 would not consider it “a personal tragedy if the State of Israel ceased to exist.” Two months ago an American Congresswoman declared that the Jews of America had sold out Israel in their support of Obama’s diplomatic surrender to Iran’s nuclear program.

The minimum requirement to be redeemed is to identify as a Jew.

The nadir of this abandonment of support for Israel is the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement, which actually has some Jews among its supporters. The BDS movement seeks to destroy Israel economically just as Iran seeks to destroy Israel physically. The starkest defection from the Jewish People is to side with those sworn to our destruction. According to Jewish law, every person born to a Jewish mother is Jewish, even if s/he converts to another religion. But a Jew needs to minimally cast his/her lot with the Jewish community to be redeemable.

Let’s be clear here. God wants the maximum from us Jews: love your neighbor as yourself; keep Shabbos; don’t speak lashon hara; keep kosher – the whole nine yards. But the minimum requirement to be redeemed is to identify as a Jew.

Spiritual DNA

Why should a dissolute Jew who identifies as a Jew be redeemable? Here it gets mystical. According to our sages, the Patriarchs and Matriarchs passed their spiritual DNA down to their descendants. Their spiritual achievements were not personal. In virtually every Divine revelation to the Patriarchs, God makes promises dealing with their descendants – they will be “like the stars of the heaven” and “like the sands of the seashore,” they will inherit the Land of Israel, etc. Among the promises was that God would not let a Jewish soul hit rock bottom without Divine intervention to stop his free-fall. This spiritual safety net is called, “zechut avot,” the merit of the forefathers.

According to the Midrash, at the Splitting of the Sea, the angel of Egypt protested to God that both the Hebrews and the Egyptians were idol worshippers. Why should the Hebrews be saved, and the Egyptians drowned? God answered that the Hebrews are the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Zechut avot, the merit of the forefathers.

But zechut avot, like any inheritance, only becomes yours if you claim it. Your grandfather can bequeath you a bank account worth a million dollars, but if don’t show up at the lawyer’s office and identify yourself as Jake Levy’s grandson, you won’t have access to his fortune. If you don’t actively identify as a Jew, you can’t inherit the precious fortune of zechut avot.

Passover poses the challenge to every Jew: Are you in or are you out?

Zechut avot is like a skydiver’s reserve chute. If the main parachute fails to open, and the skydiver is falling at 120 mph, she can be saved by the reserve chute. But only if she pulls the cord! The cord that activates the merit of the forefathers is Jewish identity.

Jewish identity is what prompted Kirk Douglas to fast every Yom Kippur. As he proudly stated, “I might be making a film, but I fasted.”

Jewish identity is what prompted Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to post a large silver mezuzah on the doorpost of her Supreme Court chambers.

Jewish identity is what prompted movie star Scarlet Johansson to stand up for Israel at the cost of her prestige as an Oxfam ambassador.

The Passover Seder speaks about four sons. Only one of them is cast as “wicked.” As the Hagaddah states: “The wicked son, what does he say? ‘What is this service to you?’ ‘To you,’ but not to him. Because he excludes himself from the community, he is a heretic. … Say to him, ‘Because of what God did for me when I went out of Egypt.’ For me, but not for him, because if he would have been there, he would not have been redeemed.”

The first Passover marked the birth of the Jewish nation. Every Passover since poses the challenge to every Jew: Are you in or are you out?

Coming to Israel? The Riglers invite you to their home for "An Enchanted Evening in the Old City," with a Broadway-style musical show. For more information, click here.

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About the Author

Sara Yoheved Rigler is the author of Heavenprints, as well as the bestsellers: God Winked: Tales and Lessons from my Spiritual Adventures, Holy Woman, Lights from Jerusalem, and Battle Plans: How to Fight the Yetzer Hara (with Rebbetzin Tziporah Heller). She is a popular international lecturer on subjects of Jewish spirituality. She has given lectures and workshops in Israel, England, Switzerland, South Africa, Mexico, Chile, Canada, and over thirty American cities. A graduate of Brandeis University, after fifteen years of practicing and teaching meditation and Eastern philosophy, she discovered "the world's most hidden religion: Torah Judaism." Since 1985, she has been living as a Torah-observant Jew in the Old City of Jerusalem with her husband and two children. She presents a highly-acclaimed Marriage Workshop for women [seewww.kesherwife.com] as well as a Gratitude Workshop. To invite her to your community, please write to info@sararigler.com.

Visitor Comments: 16

(12)
Valerie,
April 18, 2014 12:26 AM

Thank you! I needed this today...

Another confirmation of my destiny! Zechut avot is ours!

(11)
bevmargolis@gmail.com,
April 17, 2014 7:44 PM

I am IN with a passion

I'm disgusted to hear that 50% of young Jews wouldn't consider it a personal disaster if Israel was destroyed. WHEN Jew hate becomes too hard for us to bear here in the United States (not if, but when) where will those people go?I want to make aliah, but can't afford to move there; Israel doesn't want or need those of us who are too poor to go there.

My shul is Reform because it it the closest to me. I regret that it is impossible to get Kosher meat/chicken, etc. where I live. It is far too expensive to import it from New York or California.

But that does not mean that I am not a 100% Jew and proud of it.

Anonymous,
April 19, 2014 3:07 AM

Israel does want you!

I believe with ALL my heart that each Jew who wants to move to Israel is welcomed regardless of your income! When I read in the Torah that HaShem will bring all of us to our promised land, I didn't read anything that said one must have an income of any means. Israel will pay for your move! No place on the website does it say you have to have a certain income. Your Jewishness and your love of HaShem is worth more than any dollar amount! Israel is our homeland, and I know each of us who chooses to move there will be welcomed! You're given citizenship, and if needed, you're given money to help you live until you can find your niche in your homeland.Here's the website should you want to check it out. I'll be moving there within the next two years, and I live on disability. I know my worth (and yours) is much more than money! You are precious to HaShem and to Israel!http://www.nbn.org.il/

(10)
D,
April 16, 2014 6:31 PM

Identity Jew

It's easy being "IN" just be a child going to public school and take Matzah peanut butter or matzah turkey sandwiches during Pesah. All your peers will confirm your Jewish Identity. It's wonderful

(9)
Nancy,
April 14, 2014 11:57 AM

To commenter #8 Rachel--One can be religiously observant AND politically liberal. The symbol of the coat hanger is one of liberation for thousands of women. Would you prefer that more women die from illegal back alley abortions? Remember, the words liberal and conservative are not dirty words. They merely express a viewpoint.

moshe,
April 21, 2014 9:34 PM

TOTALLY DISAGREE with your flawed reasoning

Political "liberalism" is simply immoral and the antethesis of Torah and G-d ordained purity. the Left supports (and abuses others who don't) homosexuality, abortion on DEMAND, radical socialism aka dictatorship and its host of evils, militant feminism which has severly damaged the family, men, children AND women and promiscuity of all forms that are condemned in BOTH Torah and Talmud not to mention most of our traditions. The emphasis on the "poor" and justice is what ALL dictatorships (which are false messiah's) have used to force their oppressive systems on humanity...historically-foremost on us Jews. Also your rationalization that somehow abortion on demand is wise due to "back alley abortion" is a long disproven myth. Such exaggeration and morbid rationalization aka lying to one's self ruins the mind needed to study Torah and HaShem's logic on the universe he invented. You don't dump your children "cause you feel like it and get His approval. as for rape, incest, etc..this is NOT part of the abortion issue. They're separate issues like war as opposed to murder. Like every evil they did exist but it's wishful hype to believe it was even close the obsession that the Marxists blathered about since the 60's. To be "observant" is also to be morally sound and intellectually honest. Not only going through the rituals. The beginning of honest worship is honesty itself, to want good love G-d and people. Political liberalism is simply a cover and semantic smokescreen for the very mentality that created Shoah and the gulags...Pesach was/is HaShems condemnation of Totalitarian government and its abuse of all Mankind. His salvation of us should be a warning to those that support a "pharaoh-ish" type political systems and those currently under it. Know your enemies and you'll save your friends...be merciful to the cruel and you're being cruel to the merciful

Nancy,
January 13, 2015 8:45 PM

Reply to Moshe

Being liberal and pro-choice is NOT some type of sin!! You seem to be trivializing rape, abuse and incest merely because these horrific acts have been around for a long time. Do you know the meaning of the word misogynist? If not, then I suggest you look it up as that word fits you to a T!

(8)
Rachel,
April 13, 2014 6:20 PM

So how do we bring Jews back to the Jewish people?

Sara, a lovely article. Kol HaKavod, & Chag Kasher v'Sameach!Alas, I am acquainted with Jews who have dropped out because of unhappy experiences with other Jews in Jewish institutions, particularly in Jewish day schools and summer camps when they were children. Many Jews are turned off by the religious requirements and the feeling that their best isn't good enough. Or they think the laws of Sabbath are so onerous that it isn't possible that God requires us to keep such stringencies.The hidden face of God also makes many nominally Jewish people feel that God either doesn't exist, or isn't actively involved in the world, let alone require such strict laws.Finally, and perhaps most perniciously, the allure of American culture has caused American Jews to feel indifferent to Judaism and Jewish issues and to embrace various left wing causes. I once saw a feminist Hagada that called for a coat hanger to celebrate that women are no longer dying due to coat hanger abortions. I wish I had to wisdom to help change hearts. If we can't change people's hearts, we will lose more and more Jews.

(7)
Nancy,
April 13, 2014 4:05 PM

I have just two words to say: I'm in!!

(6)
Anonymous,
April 11, 2014 3:12 PM

I thought the Jewish nation was born with Abraham and settling in the promised land not Passover.

Beverly Kurtin,
April 17, 2014 7:35 PM

Yes and no

Abraham was the seed from which we all have been born. However, Israel went into Egypt as a very small group of people. My allegory is this: Egypt was Israel's womb, when her water broke, Israel was born. We became a nation at Mt.Sinai when we all heard the voice of Hashem. So yes, we began with Abraham but became a NATION at Passover.

(5)
Suzanne,
April 11, 2014 12:23 PM

I'm In

I'm a non-observant Jew working in an Orthodox Jewish Day School. THANK YOU for helping me to feel, "I'm IN!"

(4)
Frank Adam,
April 11, 2014 12:18 PM

Just remember...

Yiddish is not Jewish. Hebrew is. Yiddish is medieval German in which all the religious vocabulary has been changed from Christian Latin and Greek to Hebrew - and you can do that to English as many do.The black outfit is not Jewish either but Counter Reformation Spanish taken up by Polish nobility when at the start of the 1600's Poland decided to be Roman Catholic for patriotic reasons rather than Calvinist. Further wearing black at he time was a wealth brag as there was then no black dye so cloth needed dying twice to get the black effect.Finally the potato did not reach popularity in Germany and Eastern Europe till after the Seven Years War (1756-63 ad part of the French and Indian War to the US) so a little less nostalgia about kugel and latkes please.There is more than enough to be proud of in being Jewish but if we have lost a lot of deserters since the Enlightenment t is also for lack of rabbinic intellectual and psychological savvy to make Judaism more then repeated prayers and more pertinent in the context of the massive changes in industry and urbanisation.Incidentally there was massive Jewish desertion in the century prior to the expulsion from Spain and in the centuries of the decline of Rome and the domination of North Africa and Mesopotamia by the Moslems and Turks in particular.

(3)
avi,
April 10, 2014 6:40 PM

saying our generation is "dissolute" is a over the top exaggeration.

in many ways the current generation are the best yet, or rather have the potential to be the best yet with the opportunities the internet is providing us especially...

(2)
Richard G Raff Jr,
April 10, 2014 1:19 AM

I refuse to be a heretic

I refuse to be a heretic do to the nature of my condition and situation. I am, what I am, the words are easy said but it is the child or children that Hashem can id with the most. I have no children, but I know His fingerprints when it come to second chances in life, He has given me that choice. The real miracle is to take a broken un kosher vessel and to make it to hold the waters of the world to come. I don't know how to do this, but I trust His people and His wisdom to get me where I need to be in turn He has my love and my understanding forever. This is what a servant does only when one has proven the ability to seek the vision of unity for all Jews.

(1)
downtown dave,
April 9, 2014 4:05 PM

So how did they merit the grand and miraculous redemption?

Deuteronomy 9, "After the Lord your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, “The Lord has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.” No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is going to drive them out before you. It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the Lord your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people."